Blackbird
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Blackbird
Bird
The blackbird is one of Britain's best-loved garden birds, famous for the male's mellow, flute-like song. It hops across lawns tugging up earthworms and feasts on berries and windfall fruit in autumn.
💡 Fun Facts
- The male blackbird is glossy black with a bright orange-yellow beak, but the female is actually a warm, speckled brown!
- Blackbirds are among the finest songbirds in Britain, and their rich, flute-like song is one of the first sounds of a spring morning.
- They love to hunt earthworms on the lawn, cocking their head to one side to watch and listen for movement in the soil.
📅 Through the Year
- Breeding:March to July
Name Story
Turdus merula
means “the blackbird thrush”
What does its name mean?
- turdus — thrushLatin
- merula — blackbirdLatin
A blackbird really is a kind of thrush, and its name says so twice over: turdus is the old Latin word for 'thrush', and merula was the Romans' very own word for this glossy black garden singer.